Years ago, I found myself sitting in law school in Moot Court wearing an oversized itchy blue suit. It was a horrible experience. In a desperate attempt to avoid anything like that in the future I enrolled in a tax course. I loved it. I signed up for another. Before I knew it, in addition to my JD, I had a LL.M Taxation. I needed only to don my cape…. taxgirl® was born. Today, I live and work in Philadelphia, PA, one of the best cities in the world (I can't even complain about the sports teams these days). I landed in the City of Brotherly Love by way of Temple University School of Law. While at law school, I interned at the estates attorney division of the IRS. At IRS, I participated in the review and audit of federal estate tax returns. I even took the lead on a successful audit. At audit, opposing counsel read my report, looked at his file and said, “Gentlemen, she’s exactly right.” I nearly fainted. It was a short jump from there to practicing, teaching, writing and breathing tax.

First Lady Pat Nixon meeting with Big Bird from Sesame Street in the White House on December 20, 1970.gif (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Is Big Bird set to go on the dole?

It sure sounded like it during tonight’s presidential debate. When asked what sort of cuts he would make to reduce the deficit, GOP Presidential nominee Mitt Romney said that he would cut unnecessary programs, like, well:

I’m sorry, Jim, I’m going to stop the subsidy to PBS. I’m going to stop other things. I like PBS, I love Big Bird. Actually like you, too. But I’m not going to — I’m not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for. That’s number one.

So does that mean that this is the end of the road for Big Bird? Will Elmo no longer have any reason to giggle? Is Oscar the Grouch really going to be reduced to living on the street?

Not so fast. It’s not as bad as you think: PBS isn’t actually wholly taxpayer supported. A little context is in order.

The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is a non-profit public broadcasting television network founded in 1969. It is not a single entity but rather is comprised of member stations; there are 354 such in the U.S. Those member stations can produce their own content or air other programs. Certain programs are standard across the network which is why we tend to associate PBS with specific shows. For example, you likely know PBS from shows like NewsHour, Masterpiece (yes, that’s how the US grew to know and love Downton Abbey) and of course, Sesame Street and the Electric Company.

The original mission of PBS was to provide access to programming – particularly to those in rural areas and those who could not afford to pay for private television channels. I lived in one of those households which relied on PBS. I grew up in rural North Carolina and our TV service was spotty. We got PBS for free. We also got ABC and NBC on a mostly regular basis (thus largely explaining my mad crush on Tom Brokaw) – and if the weather was just right and if my brother held the antenna a certain way, we could occasionally get CBS. But PBS was how folks in my town watched television – especially educational television. I can’t tell you how many kids in my school probably learned to read watching episodes of Sesame Street.

PBS is not primarily funded through federal tax dollars. In contrast, it’s largely supported by, well, viewers like you (sound familiar?). Almost 60% of funding for public television comes from private donors or grants. Additional funding is provided by dues paid by member stations.

The federal funding that Romney was referencing isn’t a direct subsidy to PBS. The funding actually flows to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). CPB was created by Congress before PBS existed, in 1968 after the promotion of public media was noted “of appropriate and important concern” to the federal government. By statute, the board of CPB is to be bipartisan: three Democrats and three Republicans. As part of its mission, it supports not only PBS but also National Public Radio (NPR)

(And yes, I am well aware that all of these acronyms feel very much like an episode of Sesame Street…)

For fiscal year 2010, federal funding for PBS through CPB accounted for about 12% of PBS’ revenue. In terms of dollars, that works out to about $300 million. There’s not much wiggle room to be had: the money that actually goes to CPB is split according to a mostly statutory formula. For 2015, Congress has budgeted $445 million for CPB. That’s less than 1% of the budget. Way less. It’s about 1/100th of a 1%.

I’m not disparaging cutting waste: cutting waste is good. But with a deficit as large as the current one, if you’re going to focus on cuts, we should focus on real cuts. By the numbers, cutting funding for PBS won’t save the budget. Not by a long shot.

So will it kill Big Bird? He might need smaller digs but chances are, cuts to PBS won’t kill off Sesame Street and other major programming. What will happen, realistically, is that public television stations would have to find alternate sources of funding. Larger markets, like the one I live in now, would likely survive. But chances are that those smaller markets, like the one I used to live in, would have to shut off the lights. That is, of course, the irony, since those smaller markets are the very ones that PBS was intended to serve when it was created.

Post Your Comment

Post Your Reply

Forbes writers have the ability to call out member comments they find particularly interesting. Called-out comments are highlighted across the Forbes network. You'll be notified if your comment is called out.

Comments

you equate the same amount of money given to PBS as a drop in the bucket, budgetwise. It’s very nearly the same amount given to solyndra, another drop in the bucket? How many of these drops can be ignored while the flood continues? If PBS wants to keep open the reason for its existence, the 354 members can pare their budgets by 16% to donate to the underserved areas to keep them open.

Totally agree! But those who want to bash Romney will spin this as an attack on the middle class! With as much big bird toys and lunch-pails sold etc, I’d like to see what revenue PBS actually brings in and what their CEO’s are making with the assistance of our tax dollars? I bet we would all be with Romney if we knew those numbers!

Yes, some of the budget cuts will hurt.; but the essential functions of the government must take priority. The supporters of PBS and National Public Radio may have to give a little more or perhaps Big Bird may have to pitch a few products. If the viewers want PBS to continue it will. The market will make that determination and not the government. Perhaps, that’s as it should be. But let’s be positive, Long Live Big Bird!!!

Since only the “essential” function of government must take priority, then there is really no reason to keep the vast majority of corporate subsidies then? If we are going to cut support to things like public programming and the arts which account for such a small % of the government’s budget, then why not get rid of subsidies to those who certainly don’t need it (agro business, oil, high income earners – i.e. the bush tax cuts), along with corporate deductions? These don’t really seem like “essential” functions of the government either…

Lurena I thinkl tax policy is a very essential component of government while one could argue over the level of taxation (i.e. bush tax cuts). Every government must have some level of taxation that hopefully is arrived at democratically. As to your other points about agri-business, and oil subsidies by all means they need to be drastically reduced or eliminated and I thank you for bringing them up.

That Romney would cut funding for Big Bird is very upsetting, but not surprising — after all, Sesame Street is a middle class neighborhood. And what is worse, there would be no safety net for Muppet Americans, either, as Romney would cut food stamps. No cookies for the Cookie Monster. And should Oscar get ill from his trash can, forget about health care. But the real losers would be future generations of America’s children who wouldn’t get an early start learning their ABCs or how to count thanks to these lovable characters.

Not surprising Liberals would attack Romney with a spin his comment is an attack on the middle class! With as much big bird toys and lunch-pails sold etc, I’d like to see what revenue PBS actually brings in and what their CEO’s are making with the assistance of our tax dollars? I bet we would all be with Romney if we knew those numbers!

Since no one else is picking up on it, I’ll just make things a little more clear about the real issue.

It’s not about money being funded into the channel. That’s about .0012% of the budget. It’s about the education that’s being put out through it.

Magic School Bus and Bill Nye taught evolution and the nutjob Right wingers don’t like that. They also had an issue with Wishbone because it taught history that was not always through the lens the Far Right would approve of.

If the private sector runs it, the education will be about as valuable as MSNBC or Faux News